Tagged: Google RSS

  • Kevin Chiu 2:12 am on November 11, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , Google,   

    Droid so far 

    Verizon Wireless Google

    I’ve had the Droid for a few days now. Here are my emerging opinions.

    Things I like

    • Background processes – push email, IM, and notifications in general provide a superior communication experience.
    • Surprisingly long battery life. Despite running all those background applications, the phone’s battery is still at half full after 12 hours.
    • The LED on the front bezel blinks when you have something waiting for your attention – no need to turn on the screen.
    • It’s fast. Most applications seem to have almost no load time.
    • The slide out keyboard lights up in the dark.
    • Facebook and Google sync everything in the background. When a new contact appears in Gmail, it’s automatically on the phone.
    • The screen is extremely readable. Font rendering is especially good compared to the iPhone.

    Things I do not like

    • The camera takes horrible pictures and does not focus properly.
    • Scrolling the home screen is rough.
    • The virtual keyboard does not automatically appear when a text input field is highlighted. You have to tap the field to summon the keyboard.
    • There is a limit of 3 home screens.
    • Some of the applications that I enjoyed on my iPhone do not yet have an Android equivalent. Amazon Kindle is the one I miss the most.
    • They layout algorithm for the home screen truncates application names longer than one line, even when there is obviously plenty of space.
    • The interface aesthetic needs a lot of work. For starters, the black background featured in some parts of the interface is mismatched with the gray gradient background found in other parts. There needs to be a universal design tying all the components together. This would also help unify the appearance of third party applications as their developers take cues from the standard UI and widget set.
    • The volume rocker and camera button have too much play, which makes them feel cheap.
     

  • Kevin Chiu 5:58 am on November 7, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Google, , ,   

    This could be Android’s big break 

    65220v1Why:

    • China Unicom reported only 5000 iPhones sold in the first week. This is in stark contrast to the 1 million new 3G subscribers it gained in total. Also, the iPhone App Store is not available, and neither is Wifi. This is a huge hit against the iPhone’s greatest strengths, apps and web browsing.
    • Verizon just launched the Motorola Droid. The new phone is echoing around the blogosphere, leaving an impression as a true iPhone 3GS competitor, and in some ways, shows itself to be a superior product.
    • Exclusivity with carriers in various countries creates a smartphone vacuum amongst the carriers that are not partnered with Apple. Android is steadily moving into these free spaces. In the US, these include Verizon and Sprint, among others.
    • While yearly iterations on the iPhone platform have steadily improved Apple’s product, Android has nearly accomplished product parity in only two thirds the time.

    Why Not:

    • Android as a commercial platform for application developers is not currently as attractive as Apple’s solution. Google is trying to populate the store with higher quality applications through its Android Developer Challenges, but this also has the unpleasant side effect of temporarily suppressing the Android Market economy. Many of the high quality apps made for these challenges are released for free, wiping out revenues for entire application niches.
    • Applications in the store seem to convert fewer buyers than their counterparts in the iPhone App Store.
    • Piracy seems to be a more significant issue on Android, which might be a direct cause for the low conversion rates.

    Niggles:

    • The Droid camera autofocuses poorly, and the color processing is significantly more bland than that of the iPhone 3GS. However, this should be addressable with a software update.
    • Applications can only be installed on the phone’s internal memory, which on the Droid, has an upper limit of 256MB. This means larger applications must install a small binary that will download the remainder of the application for installation on the removable memory.

    Future Strategy

    It’s very likely that the iPhone’s dominance will end in the near future if Android continues advancing at such a rapid clip. Apple is currently stuck in disadvantageous exclusivity contracts while its competition enjoys free roam among all other carriers. Apple’s saving grace is a superior application library and application discovery interface. If Android can revamp its approach to applications and find out where it can find its own iTunes-like foothold, things will start to get a bit more interesting.

    Google stands to be the major winner if Android succeeds, even though it’s giving everything away for free. In the same manner Microsoft overtook Apple in the early days of Silicon Valley, Google stands to take over Apple in the mobile wars thanks to hardware independence and a strong foothold in personal online information. If Google releases a Sync application, perhaps within Google Desktop or Chrome, the stability of the foothold it could establish in competition with Apple will be tremendous. Currently, nearly everything on Android can be easily synchronized with Google’s services. However, a few strategic services remain unimplemented, such as media. In the same way Google Docs has displaced Microsoft’s Office in many small workplaces, Google could also displace iTunes using an online equivalent.

     

  • Kevin Chiu 8:50 pm on October 11, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Google,   

    Something Odd with Dropbox 

    I was trying to visit Dropbox’s website today and noticed that http://dropbox.com is now owned by Google. (Dropbox’s actual URL is http://getdropbox.com)

    Is Google planning to buy Dropbox?

    Screen shot 2009-10-11 at 9.46.26 PM

     

  • Kevin Chiu 10:22 pm on May 16, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Google,   

    Sync Google Calendar with Apple iCal 

    (bonus: multi-calendar syncing)

    sync

    If you’ve ever wondered how to synchronize iCal with Google calendar, well, here’s how.

    You can use this to synchronize calendars across multiple computers. Just sync up each one with the same Google calendar and you’re set. Any item created at one computer will transfer to the others.

     

  • Kevin Chiu 4:43 pm on April 7, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , gmail, Google, hacking,   

    How to use multiple email aliases on your iPhone 

    For the longest time, email coming from my iPhone was stuck using my regular Gmail address.

    Now, I’ve discovered how to use email aliases that I’ve previously set up using Gmail.

    When setting up your mail account on the phone, use the “Other” account option. I suggest selecting the IMAP toggle. Then enter the email address you want to use and fill out all the other information using your Gmail info.

    To add an additional alias, create another account of type “Other.”

    1. Select POP mail, and enter the address you would like to use as the alias.
    2. Under the incoming mail option, put in a single character for each field. (These can be optionally removed later.)
    3. For outgoing mail, enter your Gmail info.

    What this does is set up one account that can sync with your Gmail, and multiple additional accounts that can only send through your Gmail SMTP account.

    When you send mail, you should now see an additional “From:” field, where you can choose your alias.

    img_0001

     

    • Carlos 12:02 am on April 18, 2009 Permalink

      Thanks for the step by step directions. It was easy to understand. Keep posting more interesting subjects. Just found your site so cant wait for your next one.

    • Wang 7:48 am on April 23, 2009 Permalink

      Hi. This is just awesome and is what I’ve been looking for all along.
      However. I want to ask whether there is a difference using pop or IMAP for the additional alias?
      Thanks! =)

    • Kevin Chiu 5:11 am on April 24, 2009 Permalink

      @Wang
      It doesn’t matter – since you’re putting in bogus info, no connection will be made to the incoming mail server anyways.

    • Mike 3:02 pm on April 25, 2009 Permalink

      Will it show an error from the alias account every time you check your email?

    • Kevin Chiu 1:58 pm on April 26, 2009 Permalink

      Nope, no errors should appear. On my phone it’s completely seamless.

    • David Christie 12:17 pm on May 11, 2009 Permalink

      Kevin–
      Thanks so much for your help. I just got an iphone and followed your directions to a “T”,
      However when I send a reply to my test email (from my alias) it says senders address is
      invalid. Any ideas?

    • Kevin Chiu 5:46 am on May 13, 2009 Permalink

      @David
      Is the alias you’re trying to use also registered in Gmail?

    • jay 3:16 pm on May 14, 2009 Permalink

      I tried this but it didn’t work. When I try to send an email from my iphone using the new alias that I set up using your technique it doesn’t send, rather it gets stuck in the outbox.

      Please help! I desperately need this function.

    • Kevin Chiu 3:33 pm on May 14, 2009 Permalink

      @jay

      Your SMTP details in your phone setup actually have to match your Google account. You need to provide your full Google address and password. Example:

      smtp.gmail.com
      blah@gmail.com
      blahpasswordBlah
      Use SSL: on
      Authentication: Password
      Server Port 587

    • grice 3:41 pm on May 14, 2009 Permalink

      i also have the same issue as jay… please help!

    • grice 3:44 pm on May 14, 2009 Permalink

      n/m got it just as you replied! make sure you use “@gmail.com” in the username thanks brah!

    • DaN 7:33 pm on June 19, 2009 Permalink

      I’m having the same problem as above…. any more input…?

    • John 11:35 am on June 26, 2009 Permalink

      Just wanted to say thanks and that it’s a great work around!! Took me a few tries but not working great. I have multiple aliases though and can only see it working with one alias per gmail account. Am I correct with this or overlooking something?

    • Kevin Chiu 8:29 pm on June 26, 2009 Permalink

      @DaN
      Are you using your real gmail info for the SMTP server?

      @John
      You’re welcome! Hmm, I have it working on multiple aliases on one gmail account, as you can see in the picture in the post. Did you set up the other aliases as described?

    • mike 3:16 pm on July 8, 2009 Permalink

      Do you know if this works on Iphone 3gs? The only think g holding me bakc from getting an phone is because I am not sure if I could set an alias email to respond to work emails.

    • Kevin Chiu 6:33 pm on July 8, 2009 Permalink

      @mike
      I’m guessing it does. It still works on the 3G with the latest OS, and the 3GS is supposed to be using the same OS.

    • Dean 6:29 pm on July 14, 2009 Permalink

      It works on iPhone 3GS. Sending mail as an alias is a very important feature to me. I was about to return my phone if I could not get this to work.

    • David Christie 11:37 am on July 23, 2009 Permalink

      Kevin–Sorry to bother you again–but I am 99% there. I have a total of 3 alliases. I have it set up for two of them, and the replys work perfectly–however the third address always gets an error that says SMTP is not valid–and the message stays in the outbox and wont send–Any ideas? I have tried both the SMTP AND POP settings and to no avail ANy ideas?

    • Kevin Chiu 1:45 pm on July 23, 2009 Permalink

      @David Christie

      A couple things to check:
      1. Is the alias already working in Gmail?
      2. Are the server settings identical to your second alias?

    • Clare 5:10 pm on July 26, 2009 Permalink

      Set this up on my new iphone 3gs today. Thank you! Really
      needed this function for my business.

    • David Christie 6:17 pm on July 30, 2009 Permalink

      Kevin–
      Thanks so much for all your help. The alias is already working in gmail AND the server SMTP settings are identical to the first one. I can receive on the iphone but cannot send.

      Any other ideas?

    • Kevin Chiu 3:38 am on August 27, 2009 Permalink

      @David

      Try not putting in any information for the Incoming server fields. I just updated the instructions to follow this tip. I think the phone might still try to connect to the bogus server.

    • Don Ashley 11:49 pm on September 10, 2009 Permalink

      Kevin,
      I guess I should check the Media Lab site. But, I found your page while search for solution to problem with alias email on Iphone 3gs. Is Walter and Nicholas still there? How bout Joe Jacobson? I know, I’m probably showing my age.

      I was one of the corporate sponsor representatives during the mid-nineties.

      Now into Human Research with a 14 hospital Institutional Review Board as Chief Programmer.

      Have a great day!

    • Kevin Chiu 11:55 pm on September 10, 2009 Permalink

      Hi Don,

      I think Nicholas Negroponte left and started OLPC. Not sure about the others.

      Which company were you representing? It’s an honor to have a former sponsor rep reading my humble blog!

    • Don Ashley 10:35 pm on September 11, 2009 Permalink

      Hi Kevin,
      I guess Joe is with eINK. Walter Bender, not sure. I was one of JCPenney’s reps in the News in the Future Consortium. I really enjoy my Friday video conferences with Walter when he was Chief Scientist. I was involved between 94 and 99. Nothing gave me more pleasure than coming up to the lab walking through checking out all the new tecnology, writing up reports to take back to Plano, Texas to marry some tech with further funding to develop some retail applications for JCP. Early eINK signs that you could roll up and stick under your arm then unroll and stick on the front window of a JCP or CVS store, then program a message through a wireless beeper type device was cool back in the 90′s.

    • Robby 12:00 pm on September 22, 2009 Permalink

      When I don’t fill in the “incoming mail” fields, it doesn’t let me save the account. Am I doing something wrong?

    • Kevin 1:16 pm on September 22, 2009 Permalink

      @Robby
      I think you can enter something and then delete it later.

    • DaveSF 11:50 am on September 24, 2009 Permalink

      I agree with Robby. I used all the steps described, but when i don’t fill in the “incoming mail” fields, it does not allow me to save the account. Thoughts/Ideas?

    • Kevin Chiu 12:14 pm on September 24, 2009 Permalink

      @DaveSF @Robby

      I’ve updated the instructions to avoid this problem.

    • Kelli Garner 1:59 pm on October 1, 2009 Permalink

      Really nice posts. I will be checking back here regularly.

    • Ken Deemer 7:25 pm on December 11, 2009 Permalink

      Hey, thanks for the tip. Is there any way to have the outgoing emails default to one address or do I have to chose the one I want every time? In other words, could I set up my gmail account on the iPhone with the desired alias (already registyered in gmail)?

      Thanks

    • Kevin Chiu 12:03 am on December 12, 2009 Permalink

      Ken,
      You don’t even need to register your original account’s email in the outgoing field. You can put any alias as long as your login is correct. I actually don’t have an iPhone right now, but I think that’s how it works.

    • Taka 5:55 pm on January 26, 2010 Permalink

      I am using Iphone 3GS and following your instructions it works excellent using wifi, but when I turn off wifi and use 3G, error message appear asking for incoming mail server password for the email aliases. Please help!

    • Taka 5:52 am on January 27, 2010 Permalink

      Kevin
      I solved the problem. I was missing “Cellular Data Network” information from China Mobile.
      Now it works. Thanks.

    • olive 3:27 am on March 15, 2010 Permalink

      Seeams to work fine but when sending an email i is still the user id that appear instead of the alias , I am doing someting wrong ?

    • blackgirlgrown 10:33 am on May 13, 2010 Permalink

      This was incredibly helpful! Thanks so much for putting out easy to understand instructions.

    • rdt 1:35 pm on June 29, 2010 Permalink

      this doesn’t seem to hold for the ipad…any suggestions?

    • rdt 1:36 pm on June 29, 2010 Permalink

      never mind. it does. (-;

    • horatio8 12:23 pm on July 5, 2010 Permalink

      I think this is an easier way to accomplish the same thing. You can set up numerous alias for an account without setting up any dummy accounts. I’m using an iPad.

      http://www.cjo20.net/blog/?p=24

    • Aaron 5:17 am on September 17, 2010 Permalink

      your a freakin legend man!

    • jason 7:57 pm on November 2, 2010 Permalink

      Hi, I’ve tried all of the above steps but cannot get this to work. I am trying to send my company email using Gmail SMTP settings, but I want the email i’m sending out to seem as though it is coming from my company address. despite setting up my company account and using Gmail’s SMTP settings, the email is always sent as a gmail alias. Please help!

    • Kevin Chiu 8:55 am on December 4, 2010 Permalink

      @jason

      Did you register your company address with gmail?

    • Ed 2:48 pm on February 8, 2011 Permalink

      @Kevin–Thanks for this info. It is great. I get errors when checking mail, tried deleting the one character “d” I used, but iPhone OS 4 says it is “Required” any suggestions?

    • Kevin Chiu 1:48 am on February 9, 2011 Permalink

      @Ed

      Did you try deleting it after completing the setup?

    • Chay 9:49 pm on February 17, 2011 Permalink

      This worked great. Thank you for the well written instructions. One caveat…on the iPhone 4 I couldn’t delete the single characters I put in the incoming mail option, but it doesn’t show any errors or issues so no big deal.

    • Ed 11:13 am on February 20, 2011 Permalink

      @ Kevin it won’t let me delete the character. There is a grey “Required.” Unlike Chey it does give me an error each time I click mail. Suggestions?

      Thanks!

    • Kevin Chiu 7:39 pm on February 20, 2011 Permalink

      @Ed

      Hmm, maybe try putting the actual server there?

    • Mark 6:03 pm on February 25, 2011 Permalink

      Used this method on my new iphone 4 and it works (thanks!) but get errors everytime I open mail that the mail server h (the alias mail server) “Cannot Get Mail.” Of course it’s not because its not a valid server. As noted before from other iphone 4 users, you can remove the one letter later.

      Any suggestions from anyone as to how to stop the errors? It’s better than not having the alias’ but kind of annoying.

    • Rowan 1:02 am on March 6, 2011 Permalink

      I’m having the same problem. I get errors with the ‘dummy’ incoming server.

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